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Grupo Wisa has opened three stores at Guatemala City La Aurora Airport – with four more to follow |
LATIN AMERICA. Panama-based travel retailer Grupo Wisa is opening four new stores at Guatemala City La Aurora Airport in the months ahead, as it presses on with its expansion at the location.
The company has already opened three units under its La Riviera retail fascia. In total, the company will operate 1,200sq m of duty free space once all the stores are completed.
The group’s expansion into Guatemala City was delayed following the award of its duty free contract in December 2007 – the same month the airport opened. The delay followed concerns raised in the local media over the licensing process. An official review subsequently upheld the award to Grupo Wisa.
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Grupo Wisa is profiled in the March/April issue of the Digital Print Edition |
La Aurora’s new terminal has raised the bar for design and functionality in the region – “avant-garde, and one of the most modern in Central America”, said Commercial Director Marcelo Montico. “We will offer passengers a purchasing experience that [matches] the highest standards in the region, as much in our interior furniture and fittings as in the overall design of the stores,” he said.
The airport handled 2.3 million passengers in 2008; the 1.2 million arrivals were down 5,000 on the previous year, while departures grew by 8,000. The economic downturn makes any increase on that figure unlikely for 2009, but the new retail offer should be able to deliver increases in passenger spend. Grupo Wisa will steadily integrate La Aurora’s operations into the rest of its regional retail network.
“From April Guatemala will be included in all the promotional programmes that we have in the region,” Montico said. That will include its brochure of monthly offers as well as interactive competitions that aim to generate higher penetration and spend per passenger.
Opening all the stores in the Guatemala operation is the priority in Grupo Wisa’s store development programme. It will also be undertaking further renovations at Bogotá Airport in Colombia, and refurbishment of four of its stores in El Salvador.
For full details on Grupo Wisa’s expansion into Guatemala, and its other regional ambitions, see The Moodie Report Digital Print Edition for March/April – click on the icon above.
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The retailer says the La Aurora outlets will match the highest standards in the region |
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